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Monthly Archives: October 2017

Suddenly you feel the tingling sensation at the edge of your lip. There is no doubt in your mind that a cold sore is coming. Although you can’t cure it at the moment or prevent it completely, but you can speed up the healing with the following remedies.

Peppermint Oil

Essential oils can help your cold sores to heal faster. One study shows that peppermint oil can eliminate herpes simplex virus outside the cells in 3 hours. In other words, essential oils are not effective if the virus is hiding in the nerve. To use peppermint oil, you need to dilute it with olive oil because at high concentration, it is toxic. Apply it when you notice the tingling sensation.

Lysine

Taking high dosages of lysine has been found to speed up healing of cold sores. It replaces arginine in the cells. Arginine is the fuel for herpes simplex virus. The lack of arginine in the cells forces the virus to retreat.

You can reduce the consumption of foods that contain arginine. These include grains, chocolate, nuts, and seeds.

If you don’t want to take lysine supplements, increase the intake of lysine rich foods such as meat and dairy products. Just make sure they provide between 3000 and 9000 milligrams of lysine daily.

Abreva

Abreva is FDA-approved over-the-counter cream. It contains docosanol or behenyl alcohol that can get rid of cold sores fast. For best results, you have to use it as soon as the first symptom appear. It requires up to 5 applications per day.

Compeed

One study compares the speed of healing between Compeed Cold Sore Patches and acyclovir 5% cream. The result is that Compeed has the similar quick healing abilities as acyclovir cream. According to consumers’ reviews, many find that their cold sores clear quickly after patching their sores with Compeed. Unlike topical creams, Compeed is not messy. It is transparent so you don’t even know the patch is there. It also prevents the virus from spreading. In addition, it is an ideal remedy for pregnant women who have concerns about prescriptions.

Manage Your Stress

When you are under stress, your immune system weakens. This does not help your body to recover quickly for the herpes outbreak. If you want the cold sores to go away faster, you have to reduce your stress. Take a stroll, or join yoga classes. Modify your hectic schedule to give you time to relax.

The problem I find with today’s cold sore remedies is the timing. Most treatments will work the best if you act the moment you spot the tingling sensation. If you fail to do so, it will take longer time for you to resume your daily activities. Although the above remedies can get rid of cold sores quickly but what if you have to attend a major meeting or event tomorrow?

Universal precautions are safety measures that are followed for the prevention of the spread of HIV (Human Immunodeficiency Virus) and other bloodborne pathogens. All samples of blood and body fluids are to be considered infectious while dealing with them. In fact, it was after the discovery of HIV that universal precautions became known to be extremely important in a healthcare setting.

As an employer, it is a major responsibility to ensure that all your health care workers are adhering to universal precautions. While treating patients of HIV or AIDS (Acquired Immunodeficiency Virus), all employees must have an open mind and focus on leaving all prejudices behind, following universal precautions as usual. There is no room for mistakes for such cases.

Here are five measures to prevent the transmission of HIV infections:

• Personal Protective Equipment: Your health care employees must be taught to always use protective clothing when handling HIV/AIDS patients. Protective gear like face masks, gowns, gloves and goggles must be used during occasions where chances of accidental splashing of blood and fluids are high. It is essential to change gloves between patients and procedures to avoid contamination. Make sure all gloves and gowns are in good condition without any holes or tears.

• Equipments and Instruments: Needles and sharp instruments must be used carefully while using them on HIV patients. If any of your health care employees gets an accidental cut or prick, immediate treatment should be started. Gloves are essential as they provide protection. Despite wearing gloves, all sharps must be handled with special care and later disposed in a sharps-container.

• Mouth-to-mouth breathing: Sometimes an HIV patient may have a sudden cardiac arrest and require administration of artificial respiration. Even though there is only a negligible chance of spread of the virus through the saliva, it is still good to be careful. There is a greater chance of transmission if the patient has developed a wound in the mouth. Your nurses and doctors must wear gloves and give rescue breaths through respiratory devices in such situations.

• Hygiene: Good hygiene habits must be practiced in your health care facility at all times even while dealing with normal patients. Gloves must be donned before treating a patient and afterwards must be taken off carefully and placed in marked containers. Hand washing with antiseptic soap is a must after handling any patient. In the event of any body fluid touching your skin, a disinfectant must be used.

• Injuries: You must make a rule that any health worker with personal injuries like open wounds or broken skin must avoid dealing with such patients. In case they have to, they must properly cover the injured area to decrease the chances of contracting the infection.

HIV infection results in AIDS, which is a fatal disease. There is no absolute cure for it and therefore great emphasis must be given on strictly following precautionary measures to prevent its spread. Other than the above measures, you must keep your health care employees aware of the latest protective measures used. Following these simple universal precautions can save lives and must not be taken lightly.

There are two prevailing definitions of a Wide Area Network (WAN). The book definition of a WAN is a network that spans large geographical locations, usually to interconnect multiple Local Area Networks (LANs). The practical definition of a WAN is a network that traverses a public network or commercial carrier, using one of several WAN technologies

What are its Main Components?

The main components for a WAN are routers, switches and modems. These components are described below in the hardware section.

CPE – Devices on the subscriber premises are called customer premises equipment (CPE).

The subscriber owns the CPE or leases the CPE from the service provider. A copper or fiber cable connects the CPE to the service provider’s nearest exchange or central office. This cabling is often called the local loop, or “last-mile”.

DTE/DCE – Devices that put data on the local loop are called data circuit-terminating equipment, or data communications equipment (DCE). The customer devices that pass the data to the DCE are called data terminal equipment (DTE). The DCE primarily provides an interface for the DTE into the communication link on the WAN cloud.

Hardware

In a WAN you will need various types of hardware components for it to function. The typical items of hardware that you will need in a WAN are:

Router – An electronic device that connects a local area network (LAN) to a wide area network (WAN) and handles the task of routing messages between the two networks. Operates at layer 3, and makes decisions using IP addresses.

Switch – A switch is a network device that selects a path or circuit for sending a unit of data to its next destination. Operates at layer 2, and uses MAC addresses to send data to correct destination.

Modem – Short for modulator/demodulator, a modem enables a computer to communicate with other computers over telephone lines. Operates at layer 1, where signals are converted from digital to analogue and vice versa for transmission and receiving.

Wan Standards

WANs operate within the OSI model using layer 1 and layer 2 levels. The data link layer and the physical layer. The physical layer protocols describe how to provide electrical, mechanical and functional connections to the services provided by the ISP. The data link layer defines how data is encapsulated for transmission to remote sites.

Encapsulation

Encapsulation is the wrapping of data in a particular protocol header. Remember that WANs operate at the physical layer and the data link layer of the osi model and that higher layer protocols such as IP are encapsulated when sent across the WAN link. Serial interfaces support a wide range of WAN encapsulation types, which must be manually specified. These types include SDLC, PPP, Frame delay etc. Regardless of WAN encapsulation used it must be identical on both sides of the point to point link.

Packet and Circuit Switching

Circuit switching and packet switching are both used in high-capacity networks.

The majority of switched networks today get data across the network

through packet switching.

Circuit-switching is more reliable than packet-switching. Circuit switching is old and expensive, packet switching is more modern.

General Routing Issues

What is a Routing Protocol?

A routing protocol is a protocol that specifies how routers communicate and exchange information on a network. Each router has prior knowledge of its immediate neighbours and knows the structure of the network topology. The routers know this because the routing protocol shares this information.

Protocol

RIP (Routing Information Protocol) was one of the most commonly uses protocols on internal networks. Routers use RIP to dynamically adapt changes to the network connections and communicate information about which networks routers can reach and the distance between them. RIP is sometimes said to stand for Rest in Pieces in reference to the reputation that RIP has for breaking unexpectedly and rendering a network unable to function.

Routing Algorithms

Distance Vector

This type of routing protocol requires that each router simply inform its neighbours of its routing table. The distance vector protocol is also known as the bellman-ford algorithm.

Link State

This type of routing protocol requires that each router maintain a partial map of the network. The link state algorithm is also know as Dijkstra’s algorithm.

IGRP

IGRP is a type of distance vector routing protocol invented by cisco used to exchange routing data in a autonomous system. Distance vector protocols measure distances and compare routes. Routers that use distance vector must send all or a portion of their routing table in a routing update message at regular intervals to each neighbour router.

Addressing and Routing

What does routing mean?

Routing is the process of deciding how to move packets from one network to another.

The directions also known as routes can be learned by a router using a routing protocol then the information is passed from router to router along the route of the destination.

IP Address’s

Every machine connected to the internet is assigned an IP address. An example of an IP address would be 192.168.0.1. IP addresses are displayed in decimal format to make it easier for humans to understand but computers communicate in binary form. The four numbers that separate an IP address are called Octets. Each position consists of eight bits. When added to together you get 32 bit address. The purpose of each octet in an IP address is to create classes of IP addresses that can be assigned within a network. There are three main classes that we deal with Class A, B and C. The octets of an IP address are split into two parts Network and Host. In a class A address the first octet is the network portion, this determines which network the computer belongs to, the last octets of the address are the hosts that belong to the network.

Sub netting

Sub netting allows you to create multiple networks within a class A, B or C address. The subnet address is the address used by your LAN. In a Class C network address you would have a subnet mask of 255.255.255.0. A subnet mask identifies which portion is network and which is host. For example 192.168.6.15 the first octet three octets are the Network address and the last octet being the host(Workstation). It is important to subnet a network because gateways need to forward packets to other LANS. By giving each NIC on the gateway an IP address and a Subnet mask it allows the gateways to route packets from LAN to LAN. Once the packet arrives at its destination, the gateway then uses the bits of the subnet portion of the IP address to decide which LAN to send the packets.

Circuit Switched Leased Lines

A circuit switched network is one that establishes a dedicated circuit (or channel) between nodes and terminals before the users may communicate. Here are some terminologies associated with a Circuit switched network.

Frame relay is a telecommunication service designed for cost-efficient data transmission between local area networks (LANs)

Basic rate interference is a service used by small business for internet connectivity. An ISDN BRI provides two 64 Kbps digital channels to the user.

Primary rate interface (PRI) is a telecommunications standard for carrying voice and data transmissions between two locations

Packet switching refers to protocols in which messages are broken up into small packets before they are sent. Each packet is then transmitted over the Internet. At the destination the packets are reassembled into the original message. Packet switching main difference from Circuit Switching is that that the communication lines are not dedicated to passing messages from the source to the destination. In Packet Switching, different messages can use the same network resources within the same time period.

ISDN is used to carry voice, data, video and images across a telephone network. ISDN stands for integrated services Digital Network. Isdn also provides users with a 128kbps bandwidth. This is done through frame relay. Frame relay complements and provides a service between ISDN, which offers bandwidth at 128 Kbps and Asynchronous Transfer Mode which operates in somewhat similar fashion to frame relay but at speeds from 155.520 Mbps or 622.080 Mbps. Frame relay is based on the older X.25 packet switching technology and is used to transmit analogue signals such as telephone conversations.

PSDN stands for packet switched data network and is a data communication network. Packet switched networks do not establish a physical communication signal like the public telephone does (circuit switched network) Packets are sent on a fixed length basis and assigned with a source and a destination address. The packets then rely on the routers to read the address and route the packets through the network.

Mobile and Broadband Services

Digital Subscriber line(DSL) is mainly used to bring high bandwidth connections to homes and small business’s over a copper wire telephone line. This is can only be achieved if you stay within the range of the telephone exchange. DSL offers download rates of up to 6mbps allowing continuous transmission of video, audio and 3D effects. DSL is set to replace ISDN and compete with the cable modem in providing multimedia to homes. DSL works by connecting your telephone line to the telephone office over copper wires that are twisted together.

Asymmetric Digital Subscribers Line is most commonly used for home users. It provides a high download speed but a lower upload speed. Using ADSL, up to 6.1 megabits per second of data can be sent downstream and up to 640 Kbps upstream.

Symmetric Digital Subscriber Line is a digital subcriber line which runs over one pair of copper wires. The main difference between ADSL and SDSL is the difference in upload and download speeds. SDSL allows the same upstream data rate and downstream data rate as ADSL upstream can be very slow.

HDSL High bit-rate Digital Subscriber Line, one of the earliest forms of DSL, is used for wideband digital transmission within a corporate site and between the telephone company and a customer. The main characteristic of HDSL is that provides equal bandwidth in both directions.

IDSL is a system in which data is transmitted at 128 Kbps on a regular copper telephone line from a user to a destination using digital transmission.

The Local Loop enables operators to connect directly to the consumer via copper local loops and then add their own equipment to offer broadband and other services. This process involves operators accessing local exchange buildings to connect to a network of copper lines which connect them to homes and businesses. BT is an Example of a Local Exchange. The local loop connecting the telephone exchange to most subscribers is capable of carrying frequencies well beyond the 3.4 kHz upper limit.

Benefits of using DSL

DSL can provide virtually instantaneous transmission of voice, data and video over ordinary copper phone lines. A DSL connection can eliminate delays when waiting to download information and graphics from the Internet. It provides users with a cost effective high speed Internet connection. Another benefit is that a DSL connection is always on-line (like a LAN connection) with no waiting time for dialling or connecting.

There are now more than 10 million broadband connections in the UK. By December 2005 there were 9.792 million broadband connections in the UK and the average broadband take up rate during the three months to December was more than 70,000 per week.

For the enforcement and the tight control of security and the flow of traffic within and given network or between networks, the firewall is one very important piece of software and also hardware that is entrusted with these functions. An understanding of how the firewall is able to achieve its functions through the capabilities a firewall is able to provide. These are the capabilities which determine the type of firewall to be sourced to meet a certain and specific set of security needs.

Most of the firewalls will work through the packet filtering method which is one of the most effective methods of implementing security for the network through validation of data packets. The validation of the data packets is usually based on a number of factors which are the destination and the source internet protocol (IP) addresses, protocol, type of service, the source and the destination ports and port numbers, the differentiate services code point, the time range and a host of other parameters associated with the internet protocol header. These criteria are usually tested and matched for all individual packets so as to guarantee or deny these packets. This packet filtering comes about or rather is implemented through the use access control lists (ACL) which are found on switches and routers. The ACl has the advantage of being very fast when coupled with the application specific integrated circuit. Having seen these features of the packet filtering firewalls, the most obvious strong point for this type of firewall is that it is most common and can be found in about every component of the network. The packet filtering firewall is found in switches and routers as mentioned earlier, the wireless access points, the virtual private network aggregators are other devices on the network which use this type of firewall. The downside with the packet filtering firewall is that it is static and has been exploited by hackers who channel suspicious traffic through the TCP 80 port which grants unobstructed access.

The proxy firewalls also called the application firewalls work on a more complex model which can be explained by the Open System interconnection (OSI). This model seeks to explain the transmission of information from one computer to another application on a second computer. The information is passed through layers to make sure security is not compromised. The information according to the OSI model is passed through seven different layers starting with the application layer (7th layer) which is usually the interface in the form of programs used on the computer. The next layer is the presentation layer which is the translator between systems and converts the application layer information to a format acceptable to various different systems. Encryption is done in this layer.

The session layer is the fifth and manages service requests between computers. The transport layer provides reliable ordering and communication of data by preparing the data for delivery to the network transmission control protocol. The third layer is the network layer at which data is referred to as packet and this layer is responsible for routing and IP addressing. The data link layer handles the reliability of data which at this point is referred to as a frame. Finally, the first layer is the physical layer which is now composed of the devices which we can see as well as their electrical characteristics. The application firewalls work at layer seven which is the application layer just as the name suggests and they give a buffer often acting on behalf of a client. It is also patches easily in case vulnerabilities are identified. The only disadvantage is that they are slow in the manner that they handle data and traffic.

The next type of firewall is the reverse proxy firewall which will work in a similar manner to the application firewall. The difference lies in that the reverse proxy firewalls are deployed for the servers and not clients as in the case of application servers. The effectiveness of this firewall lies in the reverse proxy understanding how the application behaves and the intelligence to do away with problems like the buffer overflow.

A last form of firewall is the packet inspection firewall which takes care of session information and is even able to perform deep packet inspection to enforce compliance and scan for viruses all the time making sure that operation speed is superb.

These are the basic types of firewalls and which are chosen dependent on security needs and on to which many features have been added by different security vendors to make them better adapted for use.

Since the beginning of time, Hansen’s disease has been recognized as a problem. Reported in Egypt in as early as 1350 BC, Lepresy is the oldest disease known to man; this is according to the Guinness World Records. Frequently, Lepers have lived outside of society. This is partly due to the fact that for a long time the disease was believed to have been caused by a divine, often times associated with demons, curse or punishment. This idea changed in the middle ages, when people started to believe that lepers are loved by God, and that it is humans that have cursed them

Another reason for secluding the Lepers what that in the past it was believed that leprosy was highly contagious. If was even taken to the extent that leprosy could be spread by the glance of a leper or an unseen leper standing upwind of healthy people. Today we know that the disease is much less contagious than we once believed in the past. Lepresy is caused by a mycobacterium that will multiply at a very slow rate. The disease mainly affects the skin, nerves, and mucous membranes. The organism has never been grown in cell culture, because of the difficulty that is involved with doing so. This difficulty is as a result of the fact that the organism is an obligate intra-cellular parasite. This means that it lacks many necessary genes for independent survival. This is also evident and provides proof for it having such a slow rate of replication.

Uncertain today, is the method of transmission of Hansen’s disease. Many people believe that it is spread person to person in respiratory droplets. What we do know though, is that most of the population is naturally immune to the disease. The disease is chronic, and often times patients are classified as having paucibacillary, which is a form of multibacillary Hansen’s disease.

Are you considering getting your bachelor’s or master’s or other degree online? It’s a growing field that’s receiving acceptance and approval for all types of career and education goals.

The biggest advantage to online degree education is that it’s a complete college degree program that is delivered via the Internet. All classes, materials, tests and lectures are delivered online. This process allows the student to “attend” class from anywhere at any time that is convenient to them.

According to educators from Cornell University, “the web provides significant new functionality in transmitting information to the student and providing forums for exchange. The web is revolutionizing some areas of study through increased opportunities for learning and alternative formats for information.” (Dwyer, Barbieri, and Doerr, 1995).

One of the ways it has done this is through enhanced student-to-student and faculty-to-student communication. Students and faculty can both benefit from using the communication and assessment tools that are made available via online learning.

The technology also enables students to exercise more flexibility in their approach to education, depending on what best suits their personal learning styles and busy schedules.

In addition, the class material and program is continuously updated for up to the minute, real world application. This allows the student to immediately begin applying their new knowledge to their existing work environment.

There are many different types of programs available. Students can receive a bachelor’s or master’s degree in many areas such as accounting, marketing, human resources, e-business, information technology, nursing and even elementary education.

The typical online program takes three years to complete. A master’s degree program may take up to four years depending on the type of degree sought and the prior education of the student.

Most programs are accredited and they usually accept the transfer of prior credits from other accredited universities. Some of them are also well-known off-line schools such as Duke, Stanford, Jones International, and Capella.

While enrolled, a student typically takes just one class at a time for a five to six week period. This allows the student to concentrate solely on that material before moving on to the next module of information.

The price of an online degree education program is comparable to that of a regular college degree. Plus, many students are eligible for financing in the way of a student loan. Sometimes employer education programs can even reimburse a student’s tuition fees.

Keep in mind though, that you may have to be a little more organized and self-motivated for this type of education and you will have to manage time demands in other areas of your life. Because you normally won’t have set class times, it will be up to you to the time into your schedule. Then again, some programs require that you log on to the Internet at designated times for virtual class sessions.

Another potential disadvantage is that some employers still prefer that their employees have degrees from traditional colleges. However, these views are rapidly changing.

A recent survey of 1,300 graduates and 80 employers asked supervisors to rate the value of the degree earned by their employee compared to a resident school degree in the same field. Sixty-nine percent of the supervisors rated the online degree “just as valuable” or “more valuable” than traditional degrees. This means that one out of three supervisors need to be convinced that an online degree offers the same quality and content as a traditional degree.

Plus, traditional brick and mortar universities who offer online courses often make no separation between their programs and the type of degree awarded. And transcripts do not indicate whether a course was done at a distance or on campus.